


An Unexpected Gift

by Akiko_Natsuko



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Acceptance, Christmas, Comfort, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Gift Giving, Home, Realization, Surprises, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: “It’s my present,” he explained awkwardly, and she merely looked at him. She had figured that much out, from the fact that he was the only one here and he coughed, and turned red, fidgeting under her gaze as he continued. “It’s not even really a present, I mean it already belonged to you. I’m just the delivery man…I…”“It’s your belongings, Princess,” he explained. “The ones you left behind when you joined us.”





	An Unexpected Gift

   Satya hadn’t been able to bring herself to join the others for breakfast on Christmas morning, despite their efforts to make sure that she knew that she would be welcomed. She knew she would be, after all, they had accepted her even when they had known she was Vishkar…and now, her mind skidded away from that train of thought, it was still too raw to deal with. Another reason for her to be hiding in her room, supposedly working on her hard-light tech, but, she had been sat there since a nightmare had roused her at the crack of dawn, staring at the bright blue light with hollow eyes. There had been a time when that light had been everything to her, its simple elegance, and the promise it contained enough to let her keep going, even when doubts had started to creep in.

   Now, all she had was the light, but it seemed tainted. Almost as though the same shadow that had fallen over her when Vishkar had decided that she was no longer asset, that she had become too attached to Overwatch when she was only supposed to help as long as it furthered Vishkar’s goals. At some point, she had allowed herself to forget that to fight for Overwatch and not Vishkar, and of course, they had noticed. She hadn’t been able to fool them, and now here she was cast adrift, a price on her head because she knew too much.

An outcast.

    The perfect world that she had believed in and worked for so long stripped from her. No, she had realised that was a pipe dream while working with Overwatch. It had been impossible not to see that, not when they were fighting against people whose very purpose was to tear the world apart and keep it in a state of conflict. Then there had been people like Lucio, people she had been taught to look down on, to despise…people who were doing more than Vishkar to fight for peace, people who had looked at her and seen past the technology she used and the associations she had.

    If she was honest with herself, she knew that the split had been coming. She had been asking questions, looking at things through fresh eyes, learning, changing…and deep down she had known that would cost her. _But my life? My home?_ That had been the most crushing loss of the situation. She could live with the fact that she couldn’t go back to Vishkar, almost relieved that she wouldn’t need to confront the answers to the questions she had. She could live with the price on her head, her lips quirking weakly as she remembered how McCree and Junkrat had both piped up with tips on how to stay hidden the moment Winston had broken the news to her. No, what cut the deepest was that she had left everything behind to come to Overwatch, on the understanding that it was a short-term assignment. Her childhood mementoes such as they were, gifts from her parents, tokens from her travels around the world the certificates and medals that marked her rise through the Vishkar schooling system, stupid, immaterial things that she would never get to see again.

It hurt.

A loss that cut deeper than she had ever thought.

    Perhaps she should have gone to breakfast, at least around the others the loss didn’t sting quite as much, although she found it hard to look them in the eye now that they knew she had still belonged so thoroughly to Vishkar despite working with them. She had apologised, standing tall, frozen in shock after Winston had told her that a bounty had been issued, and to a person they had assured her that she had a place with them. That she belonged, and she ached to believe them. But right now, it wasn’t enough to make her venture from her room, not yet.

    She sat like that for a few minutes longer before she forced herself to reach for her tech, knowing that she couldn’t just turn her back on it. Christmas had given them a rare moment of peace, but it wouldn’t be long before she was needed in the field and she wanted to be ready, knowing that she would have to be more cautious than ever. She had just started to toy with it, forming basic shapes, a standard exercise that they began with in school and just what she needed to clear her mind when there was a sharp knock on her door, followed by a flurry of softer knocks and she froze.

Could she face them just yet?

     She wasn’t sure, and she remained where she was, frozen in place with a semi-formed circle balanced between her fingers. There was another sharp knock, the sound making her flinch as there was no mistaking the impatience in it this time. “Satya.” _Junkrat._ He had been one of the first to tell her that she still had a place with them, the smile he had given her nothing like his usual maniacal grin, and he had also been the first to start offering tips on how to stay hidden, Mako actually nodding in agreement to his advice for once. It had warmed her then, but right now she didn’t what to do, swallowing as she glanced down at the shape in her hand, refusing to see the shadows and instead focusing on the pulsing, light that had guided her for so long.

“Go away!” She called back, at last, her voice steadier than she had thought it would be. Usually, that would be enough. Junkrat had a bad habit of pushing people’s limits and suffering for it, like the time Mei had trapped him in ice for over an hour after he had pestered her to the point of snapping, but he had always been more delicate with her. Initially, she had thought that it was because of who she was, who she was associated with, but he had been shockingly uninformed about who Vishkar was before this latest mess, and it had been a shock to realise he respected her boundaries just because it was her.

  Apparently not today though, as the words had barely left her lips before he hammered on the door again and kept going, and she gritted her teeth, determined to outlast him even as the hard-light ball teetered and fell, smashing against the desk as she twitched with each knock. She was sure that she could outwait him, after all, he wasn’t known for his patience, Mako had taken great delight in telling them about how he had screwed up their plan at Junkertown because he had been too impatient to see the results. “If you don’t open this door then I’ll blow it open.”

That changed things…

   Surely, he wouldn’t do it, after all both Winston and 76 had reamed him out about the wanton destruction he kept causing around the base. However, she had never heard him sound so serious as he had a moment ago, and as foolish as he could be, he struck her as someone who only ever got serious when he intended to go through with something, and he was just crazy enough to go through with the threat. She waited a moment longer, longing to ignore him, but not sure that it was wise. And she didn’t want to cause Overwatch more issues, so with a frustrated sigh she rose and stalked across to the door and flung it open.

     Junkrat came within an inch of rapping on her nose, having apparently missed the sound of movement, or believing that she would hold out for longer and he hastily yanked his hand back.

“What do you want?” She demanded, with all the superiority that she could muster, although it was a far cry from how she had been when she had first arrived, and somehow, she was unsurprised when he merely grinned at her tone.

“You weren’t at breakfast.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, so she remained quiet, arching an eyebrow at him, demanding an explanation. “You missed opening presents,” he explained, and she blinked, still not getting where he was going with this, and his expression fell a little, grin dimming as he studied her, before letting out a sigh. “You had gifts…”

    Satya blinked again. _Gifts, I had gifts?_ She had picked up a few things, mainly sweets that could be shared amongst the team and there had been a few more personal items. A hard-light flower for Mei, who struggled to sleep in a completely darkened room after what had happened to her, and a tiny, hard-light model of her Meka for Hana after the younger woman had demanded to know just how detailed she could make her sculptures. She’d given Junkrat his gift a few days ago, having engineered a better reloading mechanism for his gun. Although it had been a struggle to make it look like something that would match his weapon and not her usual pristine weapon, still his grin when he had accepted it, and the whooping noises from the firing range had told her that it had been appreciated. And there had been a handful of other ones, books, an old painting that had reminded her of home that she’d passed onto Winston for his project to make the main rec room represent all of them.

She had never thought that she might get anything in return.

 “Princess.” The nickname that had once been teasing, back when she had been new and Vishkar through and through, horrified by the state of the Junkers and the thought of working with them was said with a softness that had her reeling back slightly, suddenly wary. “Did you really think you wouldn’t get anything?” She couldn’t bring herself to reply, but the answer must have been written across his face because he growled out a curse and something that sounded like ‘Vishkar… should have blown it up when I had the chance.’ Abruptly he regained control of himself, although the grin he offered her was more strained than usual before he brought the arm he’d had hidden behind his back out and holding out a bulging gift bag to her. “These are from the others…” He had to push it into her personal space before she recovered enough to actually take it, and if he noticed the way her fingers trembled as they curled around the handles he didn’t mention it.

“T..thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet Princess,” Junkrat teased, making no comment about the fact that her voice had cracked in the middle, emotions getting the better of her for the first time in years and she frowned, not sure whether to be worried or not. “Leave them here,” he gestured at the bag in her hands. “I’ve got something to show you?”

“What?” She couldn’t help but ask, wary because the last time he had wanted to show her something it had been a bomb he had been illicitly building in one of the abandoned hangars.

“It’s a surprise,” Junkrat drawled, before pouting as he saw the distrust in her eyes. “It’s not a bomb if that makes you happy…” He sounded so childishly disappointed in that fact that she couldn’t stop her lips quirking upwards and Junkrat caught the movement, the pout disappearing as he grinned wildly at her, wagging a finger at her. “I saw that.” He was cackling, something that would have irritated her the past, but today it felt like a balm against her aching heart, and she found herself obediently setting the gift bag down inside her room, hesitating for a moment as she stared at the carefully wrapped gifts inside it.

_They care…_

     It was a wonderful and frightening feeling. It had been one thing for them to say that they still accepted her as a member of the team, another to do this…to treat her like she belonged like she was part of the strange, hodgepodge family that had formed in this old base.

    It was almost too much, and she was relieved when Junkrat cautiously touched her elbow. She didn’t recoil from the touch, surprised by how gentle he was being and allowing him to tug her out of the room, not protesting as he closed the door behind her, almost as though he thought she might change her mind. It took her a moment to get her voice to work again. “Let’s go and see this surprise then,” she managed to sound almost like herself, and Junkrat played along, releasing her to offer her a mocking salute, just as he did in the field when she was bossing him around, and there was no hiding her smile this time. Especially when he bowed to her, waving her on ahead like she really was a Princess, although he quickly caught up with her.

    She followed him down several corridors, touched that he was keeping his mis-matched gait to her speed as more than once she and the others had been forced to chase after him when he forgot they didn’t move quite as quickly as he did. After a couple of minutes of silence, he started to chatter, little titbits about the Christmas breakfast and the gifts that had been given, enough to pique her interest, but not to rub in the fact that she hadn’t been there, and he made sure to tell her about everyone’s reactions to the gifts she had given. And by the time he had led her into one of the old storage rooms, she was more relaxed than she had been for a while and she had nearly forgotten why they were down here.

“What is this?” She asked when he keyed in a code, the door slipping open so smoothly that it must have been cleaned recently, as most of the rooms on this level were a nightmare to open usually. However, that wasn’t what had caught her attention, rather it was the pile of boxes in the middle of the room. Boxes that bore the Vishkar logo and had her name scrawled on the side in Junkrat’s barely legible writing. “Jamieson…” She added more sternly, demanding an answer with both her tone and his rarely used real name and he seemed to shrivel a little, actually looking nervous as he rubbed at his head, making his hair messier than ever.

“It’s my present,” he explained awkwardly, and she merely looked at him. She had figured that much out, from the fact that he was the only one here and he coughed, and turned red, fidgeting under her gaze as he continued. “It’s not even really a present, I mean it already belonged to you. I’m just the delivery man…I…”

“Jamieson.” There was a world of warning in that word, and it seemed to work as he jolted, before straightening, although he was clearly still struggling to meet her gaze.

“It’s your belongings, Princess,” he explained. “The ones you left behind when you joined us.”

     Satya had stiffened at his words, numbness creeping over him and for a moment all she could do was stare at him, disbelieving. There was no way he could be telling the truth, surely Vishkar had already destroyed everything, removed every hint of her existence…of her failure. Yet he looked so earnest, meeting her gaze now and no longer fidgeting, nothing to suggest that he was lying to her and slowly she moved towards the boxes, feeling as though her legs might give way at any moment.

    When she reached them, it took her a couple of minutes to gather the courage to lift the lid of the first one, not sure what she was going to find underneath. There was a roaring sound in her ears when she finally eased it off, and for a moment the world blurred as she spied the photo-frame lying on the top and it took her a moment to realise she was welling up, and her fingers were trembling violently as she reached for it, gently easing it out of the box. Her parents smiled up at her from the photo, as happy and proud as the day she had officially become part of Vishkar. “How…?” She was barely aware that she had spoken, feeling like she might be asleep and dreaming all of this because this just wasn’t possible…and yet when she looked in the box, she could spy more and more mementoes. “How?” She asked again, more aware this time as she turned to look at Junkrat.

“We had a mission nearby, just after Winston’s announcement,” he replied, teeth bared in a mischievous grin. “It didn’t take much to convince Mako and McCree to take a detour.” McCree, she could believe, but she knew that Mako had learnt to make his best friend pay for the chaos he tended to cause, and she wondered just how many favours Junkrat now owed the other man.

“But…” That still didn’t explain how he had got his hands on all this stuff, she couldn’t see Vishkar just handing it over or letting them inside. And why…why would he do this?”

“Let’s just say we reached an agreement.” There was a nasty edge to his grin now, but she knew that it wasn’t aimed at her. Part of her wanted to know what he had done to bring Vishkar to truce even for a few minutes, but then she decided that she probably didn’t want to know. “As for why…” Junkrat hesitated, and she coloured as she realised that she must have spoken her thoughts aloud, but her embarrassment faded as she took in the wistful expression that had to overtake his face. “I’ve been where you are. We weren’t given time to pack when they kicked us out of Junkertown. I never had much, I didn’t need much, but there are things I wouldn’t have left behind if I’d had the choice.”

    Satya stared at him for a long moment, absorbing his words and the emotion behind them, before she moved forward, the photo cradled against her. “Thank you,” she murmured, leaning up to press a kiss against his cheek before she could second-guess herself. “I wish that…”

“You’re welcome.” It was Junkrat’s voice that broke this time as he cut her off, crimson creeping across his cheeks as he took half a step back. “But…if you want to repay me.” There was pure mischief in his voice this time, and despite the blush, Satya found herself eyeing him warily, not liking the way he had drawled it. “You’ll let me help you move all this stuff tomorrow, and come and eat Christmas dinner with us this evening.”

“You…” She hadn’t been expecting that, and she wondered just how many times he was going to catch her off guard in one day, her fingers tightening around the frame in her hands. Part of her itched to move her belongings now, to make sure they were safe, and to bury herself in the memories. In the past, she would have, but under his hopeful gaze and with warmth blossoming as she glanced back at the boxes and thought about the bag of gifts waiting for her in her room, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse. No, she didn’t want to refuse she realised. “I would love too,” she murmured, realising that she meant every word of it, and her smile this time was radiant, matching that of the couple in the photo.

 


End file.
